Conveyer direction changer



Oct. 10, 1950 J. H. B HERTS ET AL comm DIRECTION CHANGER Filed Jan. 17, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet I R c B E T R H N EDI W c. HE K N C H A O u v 5 5 7. L 8 \J Q \T/ iw a 4 5 L y flfiw ATTORNEYS Oct. 10, 1950 J, a Ts ETAL 2,525,132

CONVEYERDIREC'IEION CHANGER Filed Jan. 17, 1949 ZSheets-Sheet 2 Q hwm'ram Jmm HBL HER-rs dos-m EM PHEE W'W; 52a,

ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 10, 195

"UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONVEYER DIRECTION CHANGER Jack' H. B. 'Herts and John E. McPhee, Grand Rapids, Mich, assignors to John Widdicomb Company, Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan I) Claims- 1.

This invention isldirected to and concerned with a novel and improved device for ready and easy changing the direction of movement of pallets, which are of rectangular form, longer 2 Fig. 1 is a plan view of the pallet direction changer made in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 is a somewhat enlarged fragmentary transverse vertical section substantially on the than'they are wide, from a'conveyor over which 5 plane of line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the directhey have been moved end to end, to another tion indicated. conveyor over which theyare to be moved side by Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section at right side. In such sidewise travel an economy is made angles to the plane of Fig. 2 on the plane of line of space and expense in supplying heat in con- 33 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated, junction with the process with which we use the and pallets to carry products which have been fin- Figs. 4 and 5 are diagrammatic plans illustratished thereon and varnished or otherwise coated, ing the movement of the pallet changer. from one through a drying oven. If such pallets were to position to the other; be moved through the drying oven lengthwise, Like reference, characters refer to like partsv with the manufactured articles thereon, there in the different figures of the drawings would be loss of spaceand greater heating eX- In the construction disclosed, two conveying pense. It is, of course to be understood that means. are fragmentarily shown (Fig. 1), one a. while in practice the invention has been used in roller conveyor l of a width so that the pallets conjunction with quick or forced drying of varmay be moved lengthwise thereof with the palnish or other finishings of articles which have a lets in end toend relation (Fig. 5), and the other surface application of such finishes thereto, it is a wider roller conveyor 2 on to which the pallets not to be restricted or limited to the one use are delivered and located side by side (Fig. 4). mentioned. 'The pallets 3 are of rectangular form of greater It is an object and purpose ofthe present inlength than the width, so that the. width of vention to provide a direction changer of the theroller conveyor at 2 is a width greater than character specified in which the pellets are the width of thepallets, and the width of the moved, one after the other in the direction of roller conveyor l corresponds substantially to the their length, on to the direction changerand width of the pallets. ,7 swung preferably though not necessarily through The change direction means between the dean r o 90 d v ed to a Co y 3o livery end of theconveyor l and the receiving means with the pallets located side by side, end, of the conveyor 2 includes a fixture 4, perusing a novel carriage for such pallets mounted manently secured to the fioor of a factory having on Suitable trac s wh Carriage may a suitable base and a vertical cylindrical socket cessively receive the pallets which have been b t shown i i 3 IIlOVed end to a SWihg them through Such Arc-shaped tracks 5 and 6 having a center of arc to delive e pa in a side y e c curvature coincident with the vertical axis of the tion. A further object of the invention is to so ket 4; nd s aced, from h ther, form a automatically Clamp the pallets ain Y aimless, part ofia carrying means, the tracks being secured accidental or other undesired movement durin to horizontal frame bars I radiating from the such change of direction, and automatically refixture i, each having supporting legs 3 t lease the C p means at each end Of Such ing to the floor at the outer ends thereof and at movemen 50 a a pallet y be received On any other positions in the frame such as one h win c rri clamped w il i i being .end of each of the tracks 6 (Fig. 1) for providing mov d o its place of delivery, and automatically a rigid frame structure, the tracks 5 and 6 bereleased when such d l v y p n is reached ing located in a horizontal plane. Preferably the Many other novel structures for the attainment tracks are of an angle iron form in cross section, of readily and easily handling thepallets and having horizontal and vertical legs, and the p p y gu d ng them onto the carriage, and for frame bars I and legs 8 may likewise be of coml'eadily'ahd easily moving hem fi e carriage mon structural iron forms for greatest strength when the delivery position is reached, willappear with a minimu of w i ht, vand be understood from the following descrip- The pallet carriage includes a plurality of ti n, ta n in connection w h a pany n parallel horizontal bars 9, shown s three in drawings of a preferred practical structural emnumber, which are rigidly connected together. by bodiment of the invention, which now in use, a plurality of cross bars In as shown in Fig. 1. and in vvhich drawings:

Such carriage bars 8 come together at one end,

its outer bars converging, and are welded or otherwise permanently secured to a connecting plate l2. At such end of the carriage a vertical post l3 of cylindrical form is permanently secured and is inserted into the vertical socket of the fixture 4. Such carriage therefore may be swung about the axis of the post l3 from a position in alinement with the narrower roller conveyor I, to a position where it is across the receiving end of the conveyor 2.

At the upper side of the carriage a large number of castors 14 are mounted, each of a swivel construction to turn about'a vertical axis. Small rollers are mounted at the outer side of the carriage when it is in alinement with the conveyor l, and also partially across the carriage near its pivotal end, so that a pallet 3 when moved onto the carriage will roll over the castors I4 guided at its outer edge by the side rollers 15, and stopped when its end reaches the transverse rollers l5, which when the carriage has been moved from the position shown in Fig. 4 to that shown in Fig. 5, guide the pallet in its movement onto the conveyor 2.

At the underside of the carriage over the hori-- zontal legs of the tracks 5 and 6 curved or areshaped plates 16 are permanently secured and extend downwardly therefrom, on which a plurality of small rollers I? are mounted to turn about horizontal axes, the rollers resting upon the horizontal legs of the curved tracks 5 and 6.

When a pallet 3 has been moved from the conveyor I on to the carriage and is ready for a swinging movement of the carriage as has been described, it is desirable that the pallet be clamped against any accidental, aimless or other undesired movement during such movement. It is also desirable that there shall be no clamping interference with the pallet when it is moved on to the carriage, or when it is moved off therefrom. Without invention, a mounting bar I8 is connected with the outer side of the carriage, in the position shown in Fig. 1, and near the outer free end thereof, onwhich a vertical guide structure including a sleeve 19 and a rod 20 both vertically positioned are secured, and from the latter of which a plate extends over the upper end of the guide I9. A rod 2| passes freely through the guide sleeve [9 and at its upper end is bent into a substantially half circle, with the free end of which a clamping member 22 is fixed in a position to lie overthe edge portion of a pallet 3 when moved thereunder onto the carriage. The rod 2| at its lower 'end is equipped with a roller 23 and between the lower end of the sleeve and the upper end of the fork which carries the roller a coiled compression spring 24 is mounted around the rod. Such spring normally moves the clamp in a downward direction to bring it against the upper side of a pallet underneath it.

On the track 26 at the receiving end, and toward but spaced from the delivery end, a cam member is fixed, comprising an inclined section and a keeper or detent section. When the roller 23 comes to an inclined section and rides thereover, which it does when the carriage approaches its opposite positions of swinging movement, spring 24 is compressed and'the clamp 22 lifted. The roller-23 passes over the highest point of the inclined section of a member 25, and is received in the keeper end thereof (Fig. 2). As soon as the carriage is moved from either of its extreme positions, the roller rides out of the keeper portion'of the member'25 with which'it is engaged, and down the inclined section ther of, so that the immediate clamp 22 is brought against the upper side of a pallet on the carriage and the clamp is pressed against the upper side of the pallet by the force of the spring 24.

The structure described is very useful and is of a practical, economically produced form. With it pallets in succession may be transferred from a conveyor line such as indicated at I, where the pallets have been located end to end and manufactured articles on the pallets have had various steps of their manufacture to completion performed thereon, on to the carriage, and each pallet successively swung to a position for movement on to the second conveyor 2 where the pallets will be located side by side. By such conveyor 2 the pallets, with the articles carried thereby, may be moved through a drying oven or to any other step of procedure in handling the manufactured articles which may be wanted. In actual operation the carriage is automatically swung by an air cylinder from one position to another and back again, the performance of which is timed by the tripping of a control valve by a pallet being moved to a position which it is to occupy on the carriage, a second valve being tripped upon completion of the movement and which brings into operation a second cylinder which operates apparatus for moving the pallet off of the carriage on to the receiving conveyor 2. Such structure, not forming a part of the present invention is not disclosed. There is an economy of manufacture attained with an elimination of labor costs in the handling of the pallets and the finishing of manufactured goods, particularly in the field of furniture.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be considered comprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

We claim:

1. Two pallet carrying conveyors spaced from each other at adjacent ends, one conveyor being of greater width than the other, track means of curved form located between adjacent ends of the conveyors, a carriage swingably mounted on said tracks to turn about a vertical axis between adjacent ends of the conveyor adapted to be swung from a position in which it is located at the end of the narrower conveyor and extends in a direction parallel to the length thereof, to a second position in which it has its length lying in adirecti'on perpendicular to the length of the wider conveyor, said carriage having-a width ap- -proximstin the width of the narrower conon said tracks to-turn about 'a vertical axis between adjacent ends of the conveyor adaptedto be swung from a position in which it is located at the end of the narrower conveyor and extends in a direction parallel to the length thereof, to a second position in which it has its length lying in a direction perpendicular to the length ofthe wider conveyor, and a plurality of spaced alined rollers mounted on said carria e to turn on vertical axes at and extending above the upper side of and at the outer side of the carriage when in its first position, against which the outer edge of a pallet moved from the first and narrower conveyor on to the carriage is adapted to bear, and additional rollers located transversely of and at the upper side of the carriage to turn about vertical axes, located adja: cent the pivotal axis and alined transversely oi the carriage, against which the end of a pallet engages when moved onto the carriage.

3. Two pallet carrying conveyors spaced from each other at adjacent ends, one conveyor being of greater width than the other, track means of curved form located between adjacent ends of the conveyors, a carriage swingably mounted on said tracks to turn about a vertical axis between adjacent ends of the conveyor adapted to be swung from a position in which it is located at the end of the narrower conveyor and extends in a direction parallel to the length thereof, to a second position in which it has its length lying in a direction perpendicular to the length of the wider conveyor, and a yielding clamping member mounted upon the carriage at the outer side thereof when in its first position, underneath which a pallet moved. on to the carriage from the first and narrower conveyor passes, and means for operating said clamping means when the carriage approaches either extreme position of its movement to move said clamping means to inoperative position, and release said clamping means to clamp a pallet to the carriage between such positions.

4. A structure as defined in claim 3, said clamping means comprising a vertically located rod, a vertical guide through which the rod passes mounted on the carriage, said rod at its upper end being laterally turned and having a clamp at its free end adapted to be located above an edge portion of a pallet moved on to the carriage, spring means acting on the rod for normally tending to move it downwardly, and fixed inclined members mounted on said track means in positions for the lower end of the rod to engage therewith and ride up said inclined members to elevate the clamp against said spring 6 means as the carriage approaches either extreme of its movement, and down which the lower end of the rod moves when the carriage is moving away from either extreme position.

5. In a structure as described, two elongated conveying means spaced from each other at adjacent ends, said conveying means being disposed in a substantially horizontal plane, one of said conveying means being wider than the other, curved tracks having a common center of curvature spaced from each other, having one end of each track closely adjacent one end of thewider conveying means, and the other end portion of said tracks located in front of the narrower conveyor, an elongated pallet receiving carriage, rollers mounted upon said carriage riding on the tracks, means for pivotally mounting an end of the carriage for swinging movement of the carriage from a position in front of and alined with the narrower conveying means to a position across the adjacent end of the second wider conveying means, said pallet being located lengthwise on the first conveying means and crosswise as to its length on the second conveying means, means for releasably clamping a pallet upon the carriage, spring means for normally moving said clamping means to clamping position, and spaced means on said track means for engaging with said clamping means to lift and unclamp the clamping means at either extreme position of movement of the carriage, and releasing it for clamping action between such extreme positions.

' JACK H. B. HERTS.

JOHN E. MoPHEE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Brunnhoelzl Oct. 7, 1941 

